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Welcome to the Texas Catholic Conference, the Official Public Policy Voice of the Catholic Bishops of Texas.
OUR MISSION
The primary purpose of the Conference is to encourage and foster cooperation and communication among the dioceses and the ministries of the Catholic Church of Texas.
A major function of the Conference is to be the public policy arm of the Conference's Board of Directors, the bishops of Texas, before the Texas legislature, the Texas delegation in Congress, and state agencies. The public policy issues addressed by the Conference include institutional concerns of the Catholic Church as well as issues related to Catholic moral and social teachings.
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| Daily Mass Readings |
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First reading |
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Responsorial Psalm |
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Gospel |
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Video Reflection |
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Saint of the Day
See Available Diocesan Job Opportunities Here
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Latest TCC News:
JULY 15, 2010
Cardinal
DiNardo welcomes HHS Exclusion of Abortion from Federal Insurance
Program, Calls for Permanent Law
Following public criticisms of new
federally-funded health insurance plans that would have covered elective
abortions in Pennsylvania and New Mexico, the Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS) issued a statement that the agency will act to exclude abortion from this program. Cardinal
Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, chairman of the U.S. Catholic
bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, welcomed the statement as
averting an "alarming precedent' and called for permanent law to exclude
abortion from all programs under the new Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act (PPACA). "We welcome this new policy," the Cardinal said, "while
continuing to be gravely concerned that it was not issued until after
some states had announced that pro-abortion health plans were approved
and had begun to enroll patients." Read more >>
JULY 12, 2010
Bishops Concerned over Federal Court Rulings
Rejecting Marriage as Between One Man, One Woman
Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, chairman of the United States
Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Ad Hoc Committee for the Defense
of Marriage, expressed grave concern regarding recent rulings by a
federal judge in Massachusetts rejecting the definition of marriage as
between one man and one woman.
Archbishop Kurtz offered his remarks after two rulings on July 8 that
held that section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is
unconstitutional. Section 3 provides that for purposes of federal
statutes, regulations, and rulings, "marriage" means the legal union of
one man and one woman.
Read more >>
JULY 12, 2010
A Critical Distinction between Direct
Abortions and Legitimate Medical Procedures
On June 23, 2010, the
U.S. Bishops' Committee on Doctrine released a clarification entitled: The
Distinction between Direct Abortion and Legitimate Medical Procedures.
Since most folks don't read every new posting on the vast USCCB
web site, this helpful statement could be overlooked.
The statement
notes that "On November 5, 2009, medical personnel at the St. Joseph's
Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona, performed a procedure
that caused the death of an unborn child. Most Reverend Thomas Olmsted,
the Bishop of Phoenix, has judged that this procedure was in fact a
direct abortion and so morally wrong..."
When Bishop
Olmsted spoke, many a commentator became a self-appointed expert on the
Church's moral teaching overnight. The national media certainly caused
confusion among Catholics and the general public as to what the Church
teaches regarding illegitimate and legitimate medical procedures for
addressing the risk to a mother's health or even life during a
pregnancy. Read more >>
JUNE 29, 2010
Bishops Urge Senate to Remove Abortion Amendment from Defense Bill
A Senate committee amendment that would authorize the performance of elective abortions at military hospitals in this country and around the world is "misguided" and should be removed from the National Defense Authorization Act (S. 3454), said the Chairman of the U.S. bishops Committee on Pro-Life Activities. In a June 29 letter, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston urged Senators to remove this amendment on the grounds that it breaks with longstanding federal and military policies on government promotion of abortion.
Cardinal DiNardo said it was disingenuous to suggest, as the amendment's proponents have, that the amendment is "moderate" in requiring patients at military facilities to pay for their abortions. "Which is a more direct governmental involvement in abortion: That the government reimburses someone else for having done an abortion, or that the government performs the abortion itself and accepts payment for doing so?" the Cardinal wrote. He cited a 1989 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court saying that "the State need not commit any resources to facilitating abortions, even if it can turn a profit by doing so." Read more >>
Read more updates on the TCC Staff Blog
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